Dodging Menace
by Myst4
Summary: *CH7 FINALLY UP* The group goes into the Yeerk Pool complex
1. Guess what? A new mission!

A/N: This is a story written in response to a challenge to include:  
  
- Opening setting in the Andalite Dome Ship - Elfangor screws up while doing his training - Ax and Elfangor have to be present  
  
The PG-13 rating is for later chapters.  
  
Dodging Menace  
  
War Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul blinked at Officer Tuhriham-Jippon- Rheodannot and sighed. It appeared that he had to face the planet Earth again. Not that that was a bad thing. Earth was fluffy white clouds and endless deep blue seas. Earth was toppling uncertainly on two legs and sucking socially on small cylinders. Earth was chocolate kisses and ecstasy in -  
  
Whatever. Earth signified beauty.  
  
And yet his hearts thudded sickeningly in this chest and his head swam with too many questions.  
  
.thought you are the most suitable for this task, Prince Elfangor. You already have knowledge of the Yeerk in charge, so you may be able to be more strategic.  
  
The human children, were they still alive? How's his son? Was it just a foolish, desperate thing to do - giving five human children the morphing ability?  
  
.unlike the vain ones who get carried away with their cockiness, nor the self-doubting ones. You have the respect of the warriors, who will obey you on your word regardless of their own doubts.  
  
Thank you. Elfangor gestured with his stalk eyes and walked away.  
  
Tuhriham had come to Elfangor's scoop at what was equivalent to 3:21am that day and woken him up. Elfangor had opened the shield of the scoop to find Tuhriham standing gracefully outside, an excited grin on his face. Indeed, the situation on the Homeworld has changed - at night it was required to lock up the scoop, it was no longer an open space exposed to the skies. It still appeared that way, of course, thanks to the superior Andalite technology. Anyway, showing Elfangor his military licence, Tuhriham had urged Elfangor to inspect the newly built Dome Ship, whose designs have been improvised. Yes, at three-something in the morning. So Elfangor, being the tolerant gentleman that he was, did not ask any questions.  
  
It turned out that Tuhriham had this mission for him. It was a 'flattering surprise'. The mission was called on no notice. It was only an accident that some bored officers came to do a detailed analysis of the current situation on Earth. They found that the situation was worse than expected, and ordered ships to go there immediately to 'keep things under control' until the 'real' army arrived. And this Dome Ship was called on.  
  
Elfangor's mental clock told him it was still very early - a little over six. He would be getting up now on a regular day. The sun in the artificial environment would be rising soon. His head was full and he hoped running in the meadow would help. Once he reached the Dome, he fed as he galloped. After running aimlessly for a while, he reached the place where there was a pond of water.  
  
From the water that gave birth to us As Elfangor dipped his hoove into the water, he thought of how peaceful the day really was. His previous nerves probably just came from an empty stomach. Elfangor smiled at the way the morning ritual brough optimism into every day.  
  
From the grass that feeds us A mission was nothing unusual. The daily ritual was uplifting and reassuring.  
  
For the freedom that unites us/We rise to the stars/Freedom is my only cause/Duty to the people, my only guide/Obedience to my prince, my only glory The words floated so fluently and lightly into the breeze.  
  
Destruction of my enemies, my most solemn vow.  
  
Elfangor's breath stuck in his throat as he realised that there were no excuses for failing to destroy Visser Three this time. How very very many times had the Yeerk Esplin9466 gotten away? How close he himself had come to being defeated? Their personal battle had lasted so long.through the Taxxon Homeworld, through their own created universe, through separate timelines. and it was still not over. Suddenly he felt exhausted. Drained in every way. They had chased each other through every medium, and now five human children were burdened with something this big, this extreme, this impossible.  
  
I, Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, Andalite War Prince, offer my life. He shivered in the darkness of the early hours, and pressed his surprisingly steady tailblade to his throat.  
  
A/N: Nothing much is happening yet - but it will!! And next chapter will provide an explanation as to why Elfangor's alive. As I do not have any of the Animorphs books with me (they are in my other house) and I haven't read any of them for many months, I can't remember many trivialities *mope*. If only I could re-write parts of the AC or #8 in Elfie's POV *sigh*. I don't have a clear idea as to where the story is going yet. Anyway, take mercy upon my review-deprived existence and review! 


	2. Ah, the humiliation!

A/N: The section in italics in this chapter is a scenario imagined by Elfangor, in case you can't tell. Um… this chapter does not provide the explanation as to why Elfie's alive. I didn't realise writing his 'screw-up' would take so long (in words), and the bit with Saedrith in the beginning just came out of nowhere… so, forgive me! ^^;; 

*runs and hides*

* * *

I have been asked to accompany you until Diwwalt-Esmteir-Arrili arrives. This… _session is in no way intended to imply your inferiority in tail fighting or any type of one-on-one battle, the aristh babbled. Elfangor smiled politely. _

Uh… when I said that, I was in no way suggesting that you had an inferiority in tail fighting at all. The aristh had been staring at the floor while focusing both stalk eyes on Elfangor. Now he remembered his first lesson and turned his stalk eyes in various directions – a warrior could not afford to ever, ever focus on limited areas. Not that there were any dangers present, but he blushed, certain that Elfangor had noticed his amateurism. He glanced at Elfangor, returned is stare to the ground, and fidgeted. 

And noticed another loophole in his words: I mean, of course you have _some inferiorities in tail fighting. As the saying goes – tail fighting is an art of learning and constantly improvising. There is never a point of absolute perfection, it's about knowing yourself and what works for you... he trailed off, blushed deeper, and shrank into himself._

Meanwhile, Elfangor was in agony with empathised embarrassment. The knowledge that he used to be like this himself was not helpful. As he was pondering his understanding slash kind slash wise slash original response, a shout saved his awkwardness. Diwwalt had entered, precisely on time.

Saedrith-Esmteir-Arrili! What the yaolin are you doing here?! I told you to stay home. How do I get it in that naive head of yours that snooping around the Dome Ship and getting in the way of officers does not make you any more glorious? I'll deal with you when I get home. Now leave.  The aristh left quickly. 

Arisths, eh? I swear, my wife spoils him. They are trained too late, I tell you. If every boy starts training at the age of two they'll grasp the idea of discipline quicker and the insolence level will decrease dramatically.

Elfangor smiled, and decided against telling Diwwalk about the reason Saedrith had supplied for being on the Dome Ship.

Ah, I apologise for neglecting common courtesy. I am Diwwalt-Esmteir-Arrili. As you probably already know, I have received numerous awards for various areas of combact. Honored to advice you on the detailed strategies of tail fighting with Visser Three.

You are very skilled, I'm sure. I will be glad to take advice.

Ah, shall be begin then? We'll first just try some basics to warm up.

Sure.

Alright, say you were to go one-on-one with Visser Three. We have done extensive research on all aspects of this mission and it is believed that your tail is two centimetres longer than his, or shall I say, Alloran's. You must use this to your advantage. Psychologists have made predictions on the moves Visser Three is most likely to use, given the most probable state of Alloran's emotions and the Yeerk's emotions in various scenarios. Alright, now I will take the role of Visser Three and you will attack me. Just use the basic moves for now, give me a rough idea of your ca – …style.

Elfangor raised his tail and prepared himself.

I like your stance.

Thank you.

Elfangor watched Diwwalt's face and focused on Diwwalt's back from the corner of his eyes as he charged forward. As predicted, Diwwalt did not expect the move and stumbled at their impact. He quickly regained his balance and striked. Elfangor blocked his tail effortlessly. Diwwalt raised his tail over his head and – 

_Hahaha! Filthy humans, I will destroy you ALL! You shall all cower beneath my gaze and beg for death! Visser Three crows in glee._

_"Aaahh ruuuuun!"._

_"No, I think he's morphing! We have to fight!"_

_"What the FUCK?!__ Oh yeah… the morphing business that __ali__en told us." _

_"So.__ Umm… we'll fight you! Everyone, I don't care how scary that guy is, the __ali__en made his point clear, and he wants us to fight. __Al__right, let's, um, morph."_

_And the children morph, all too slowly. __Tobias__ is the fastest. _

_But the tiger instinct has him! He's running around biting everything, even his friends._

___HAHAHA__ HUMAN FILTH! LOOK AT YOUR FRENZY! This is so amusing!_

_And now the __Hork__Bajir__ are after them. They rip their skin open and toss chunks of their flesh in a horrible dance. Parts hit the floor and walls with dull thuds and slide, trailing gruesome crimson. The Taxxons swarm to their meal. One of the kid's half-morphed __bo__dy__ is ripped open by a Taxxon and it screeches as it digs into his guts, spilling intestines everywhere. The detached head had a contorted face, and it's cheated voice rang out shrilly "We never had a chance! It's not fair it's NOT FAIR!"_

Oh! Elfangor found himself in a tangle on the floor.His hooves and tail was beneath his body, a sharp pain made his head spin. He gazed up to see Diwwalt grinning triumphantly, holding out a hand to assist. Elfangor took the hand and rose. 

And found that he had mysteriously broken the bone of his tail. The last quarter or so hung limp from the rest of the tail. It stuck out to the side and where it had broke it began to swell. 

Diwwalt turned away. Then changed his mind and decided to look at Elfangor straight on and pretend not to notice the humiliating place the bone had decided to break. Elfangor looked straight at Diwwalt and pretended not to notice that Diwwalt had noticed, and attempted to keep his grace while cursing the the stupid bone for not breaking _anywhere else, such as the neck, for example. _

And so they stood watching each other for three and a sixth minutes, before Diwwalt decided to be brave: Well, that was _wonderful! Uh… sorry, I didn't mean it like that. Not the inj – uh whatever. I… you did well, he winced at the advisor-like sound of the last three words._

Thank you. Pause. Shall I morph?

Yes, yes of course.

And so Elfangor morphed, with ever so much grace, and demorphed to heal his injury.

It… what happened? I just kind of spaced out I think… 

Well a warrior should never let… it happens to everybody, I understand, it's just one of those times. However, it is my opinion that if one could not perform the basic moves, merely due to a bad day or tiredness… with all due respect, Prince, it is my opinion that one is not fit to enter battle.

* * *

A/N: Aww… don't you just love our Elfie. I'm sorry I didn't explain why Elfie's alive in this chapter! I will soon, promise! Please don't hurt me… Don't get your hopes up though, my 'reason' for Elfie being alive is very lame. *nod* Unless I think up of some other reason very quickly. 

In response to the lovely reviewers:

Nova Mist – Tobias will definitely be here, with the Animorphs. I know Loren will be present at least in Elfangor's thoughts, but I'm not sure if she'll actually personally appear. Cruelty to Elfangor is my job, after all.

Phoenix-sol – *teary* I wuv you, add me! And, I had _two embarrassing moments here, do I get extra credit? *looks around* What! The thing about no pressure… I swear you're paying me back for the review I wrote to you pressuring you. *glare*_

Jinako chan – *feels even more guilty about not explaining Elfangor's aliveness in this chapter* Just… be patient please?

Green Eyed Girl  - I possess talent? Aw thank you! *sniffle*


	3. Down this pathway, once again

Special A/N: I'm rather late in posting this chapter. BUT I have a _valid reason *glares meaningfully at some people, not mentioning any names, __Phoenix___sol* For once it isn't 'I have so much homework' or 'I'm lazy' or 'I'm a teenager, I have a life' it is…. *drumroll please* my computer!!!  It refused to let me on FFN. It just won't get there. _

Normal A/N: The quotes in italics are Elfangor's memories taken from events from the Andalite Chronicles, in case it isn't obvious. I don't have the Animorphs books with me so I apologise if the quotes aren't accurate word-to-word. I've also discovered that 'Diwwalt' is very difficult to type, whatever possessed me to make that name? Not as if it sounded outstandingly good… 

Don't let him bother you, Kemlar said to Elfangor. he just has a blunt way with words. I have faith that you will do well. 

I hope I'll be able to live up to that faith, Elfangor replied and smiled gratefully at Kemlar. I don't know what happened though. One minute I was fine and the next I was lying on the ground.

Ah. Well, according to Diwwalt you were doing fine until suddenly a pained expression crossed your face and you stumbled backwards. You tried to use your tail to balance yourself but ended up collapsing onto it in a bad angle.

He told you? Who else did he tell? How many people on the ship knew he had disgracefully broken his own tail while doing basic warm up moves in a calm room..?

Oh I don't know. Aw don't look so down, the floor was recently waxed and polished, it would have been easy to stumble in a heap. Kemlar waved his stalk eyes dismissively. I've slipped on that darned floor several times myself. But then again, I'm always the clumsy one. He patted Elfangor's arm good-naturedly and turned back to his work.

So Diwwalt hadn't told him about the bone breaking. Elfangor vowed to view Diwwalt more deeply from now on. 

There was nothing he could assist with on the ship. For once the crew aboard the Dome Ship was calm and relaxed. There was nothing obstructing their way, no one was trying to shoot them down, and there was no deadline to meet. All he had to do now was sit back and relax. It won't be many hours before they reached Earth.

It was two o'clock! Elfangor's girlfriend, who lived with him, would be worried sick.

_"My mum will die of worry"_

What the… Something seemed familiar with the thought of his girlfriend being worried sick... Elfangor shrugged off the feeling and went to the nearest communication terminal to dial home. A hologram of Elayura appeared, and she never fails to hold Elfangor breathlessly in awe of her beauty.

Oh Elfangor! Where are you! 

Darling, I'm sorry I couldn't notify you earlier –

Sweetheart are you alright? Oh good.

I'm on a mission. Don't worry, it isn't something particularly dangerous. I just have to patrol Earth, basically. I hope I'll be back soon. I love you. 

I love you too, and I'll miss you. When will you be back?

User on terminal sixteen, we need the line!

Soon. Then he decided to be more honest. Actually, I have no idea. I love you, Elayura, and I always will. I have to go now… I love you.

This sounds like a goodbye to me. What are you getting yourself into? Please Elfangor – 

User on terminal sixteen must cut connection. We need the connection immediately, to track the ship's routes. User on terminal sixteen must cut connection.

I have to go – 

Wait! I have something to tell you! I'm pr – 

Elfangor had cut the connection. Elayura disappeared before his eyes and he felt a jolt of coldness. He closed his eyes and attempted to bring back her warmth by holding the sound of her voice in his memory. 

His eyes jerked open. He thought he heard an awful consonant from her.

_So that was why __Loren__ had gone to the doctor's…_

_"No! Don't take me away! I have a son now, things are different now that I have a son!"_

_You are already away…_

Elfangor pushed the thought away. He could think of many factors contributing to why that _wasn't what she was about to say. Anyway, they were almost at there, soon they will exit of Z-Space. He'd have to prepare for the Yeerks and the possible human resistence. _

_"So, we're traveling faster than light?! Wow." It's not actually faster__…_

They were no longer in Zero-Space. The Milky Way should come into view on the viewscreen any time now.

_"Freeze, horse-boy!"__ The very first words…_

So many memories… That was the problem when your ship is not being threatened – you have the spare worry-space in your mind that worries about… every possible worryable matter. He had only been to Earth once since he returned to his duty from life with Loren, which was the time they crash-landed on Earth. There wasn't much time to notice things that would trigger memories, and besides, he had plenty to worry about then. Damn that worry-space. 

And there they were. The Milky Way was now visible. The planets spun around the glowing sun at their own individual paces.

_"Oh, that's Saturn!"_

Elfangor squinted into the viewscreen and tried to find Saturn. He wished he had an excuse to command the computer to search for the planet with the extraordinary rings. 

_We would have different dreams. "Maybe not so different."_

Earth was now a large globe, and Elfangor felt terribly alone. 

The appropriate settings are being finalised. Beams set to lowest level. Shield on level four. All sensors alert. Someone announced.

Report.

Uh… not much can be seen. There are no Yeerks ships within range other than the Pool Ship. We will not attack it as we do not want to trigger a battle. It may be necessary to proceed lower into the atmosphere.

A/N: I'll end this chapter here. Grr I should've written the explanation for Elfangor in a prologue or something, then it wouldn't take so long to get to the point where we explain it. I will explain it next chapter, I promise!! I've already written that part (even though it's still lame and I'm aiming to change it) but it WILL be in next chapter!  

When Elfangor was talking to Elayura weren't you just screaming _What about __Loren__?! How could you! =Þ Hehehe. By the way, for all you know she might have wanted to say any of the following: Priceless, PReening myself, PRe-menstrual, PRo-British, PRe-teen but i've never told you because i wanted to fuck your brains out, PRotein-deprived, PRozac-addicted... ah the list goes on. Who knows what she was about to say? ^___^_

**My wonderful, all powerful reviewers…**

Angel of Music - *cackles* you just wait and see… it isn't my habit to treat my characters kindly. 

Nova Mist  - Hahaha you shall do the same as Angel of Music *laughs at you two*.  It's set before #45, but late enough in the series that they are not clueless, and the war has started to take its toll. I imagine them to be 15 years old, but that's not set.

Jinako-chan – Yep, Elfangor goes to Earth! I won't break his tail for good, if he did that he'd be of no use to the story. And continue _Be Stupid ! Hurrrrrryyyyyy update it!!! *shakes author* HURRY UP!!_

Phoenix-sol – Yes… well… blame my computer. *sits there confidently* _You, however, still need to upload ch6, even though I'm reading ch5 right now (since my computer didn't let me go to FFN before). _


	4. We wish to see Aximili

A/N: Iceblock does not mean a block of ice, it means popsicles *nod*. And… no pun was intended while mentioning it. *nod*. 

Marco was enjoying himself. He was flopped down on top of six cushions. He was licking on an iceblock and flipping through a porn mag (borrowed from Tom, behind Jake's back). Man, for the first day in months he was able to access the luxuries of a normal male teen life. 

He was with Ax, who was in human morph. Tobias said the day was warm and beautiful and he wanted to just fly. Bet Rachel went with him. Jake and Cassie wanted to 'hang out' at a restaurant, then at Cassie's house. Man, Jake was a hopeless liar. So poor, unwanted Marco was stuck with Ax.

Nevertheless, he was enjoying himself. "Whoa… look at this!" Marco showed Ax the cause of his arousal. 

"I do not see the purpose …puh…of two dimensional imitations of the human form, with excess…ess…excess parts exaggerated. Are these humans ill? They look unnatural. Uhhhhhnn nat uhhhhhhh ruuuuul"

"…aliens." 

Ax then started stripping. 

"Whoa man! Don't take offense with what I said okay? You're not alien, you're not alien at all! Oh oh stop that! Oh yuck, I so do not need to see this. Oh _man you're definitely not alien there. __Aaaaaarrgh!!!!!!" Marco flung himself off the cushions, the iceblock flew out of his hand and sailed into the air before splattering on the television set. _

"Is something wrong? I'm hot. Hot-tuh."

"Eeeeeww _shut up! Oh you mean __literally. Ah… well… that's no excuse to take off your clothes. Put them back on!"_

"I feel sick – "

"You're not alone, buddy, I do too. _Put them back on!"_

"Be quiet!"

Marco shut up, and gaped at Ax, forgetting that he was stark naked. He didn't know obedient arisths got cranky when they were hot. 

Ax's face was contorted in concentration and he groaned, "My head…"  He crumbled to the ground and his nose started to bleed. With his eyes clenched shut he began to demorph. As he grew more Andalite the headache eased a little. He thought he could make out a thought-speak message…

Aristh Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, if you can hear us you are ordered to reply, regardless of circumstances.

Ax had not finished demorphing. Andalite ship! he gasped through his splitting headache to Marco. They're here… have to notify Prince Jake… Marco, Marco? Andalites are here… give me some water… I need to respond to them… but… head hurts. Salvation… need… Uhh. 

_Now, why was it again that I gave him booze this morning? Marco thought to himself miserably. _

Ax had finished demorphing. And now that his head was clear, he wasn't sure what exactly had happened. _The Bold and the Beautiful was on, and he felt more comfortable watching television in human morph, so he morphed. Ah, what was __The Young and the Restless compared to the drama of __the Bold and the Beautiful? _

"You okay now?"

"Yes."

"It must be the booze, no worries, man."

Marco resumed his initial position on the cushions, and got himself a new iceblock. 

Suddenly there was a loud banging outside. Ax looked at Marco. Who could possibly know that someone was down here in the ground? 

"Rude," muttered Marco. "Cant they tell I'm busy?" Ax looked meaningfully at Marco. After all, he didn't want to miss _The Bold and the Beautiful. The human character Amber was about to come out with her feelings for Taylor… _

So Marco labourously wrapped the iceblock in it's wrapper and set it aside, closed the magazine and lovingly smoothed out its creases. Swung his legs off the cushions and carefully got up without disturbing the piling of the cushions. He smoothed back his hair, did a karate kick, and walked over to the opening of Ax's scoop. 

He opened the 'door', and drew in his breath. Visser Three was standing just outside, looking down at him with his trademark evil glare. "Yaaahh! Peace man, peace. Why, good morning blue deer. Can't a couple of boys relaxing underground without being interrupted? Hey, are you those guys from Star Trek?" Okay, okay Marco, just keep talking. They won't suspect a thing…

Is Aristh Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill here?

"…wha?" Marco muttered and looked around, pretending to look for the source of the voice. _Hah! Bet __Jake__ can't pull it off this cool!  _

"I'm present." Ax walked into view… naked. 

We are Andalite warriors, and we have many things to discuss with you. May we come in?

Marco cut in before Ax could say anything. "Um… wait! Hang on alright? We're busy, we won't be a minute, please wait?"

This is more important than matters in your daily life. And it's urgent.

"We're watching TV, but it won't take long!"

Listen, human – 

"Let him put on a pair of shorts first!"

We don't mind – 

"He's busting to pee!"

That's irrelevant. Aristh Aximili, tell the human to mind his own business. We have _urgent matters to discuss – _

"Erm… we… we need to finish! We're… doing each other. You know what I mean? And it's urgent." Before the Andalite could reply after his look of pure disgust, Marco slammed the 'door' shut and dragged Ax by the ear into the corner.

"Marco, this is very important. The Andalites have finally come, why are you being so rude? You'll reduce their respect for us."

"… that's not Visser Three?"

Ax stared at Marco and didn't comment. 

"Fine, fine. But look, how do you know they aren't holograms or something? How do you know they're it? Why are you being so thick? I wouldn't have resolved to such a desperate excuse if you'd have cooperated! It's like, where's the Andalite bandit, Oh I'm right here. And _please, put on a pair of shorts. Now!" Ax obeyed. Marco rang up the others using Ax's mobile. _

Then Marco opened the 'door' to the Andalite. Only to find that there were several Andalites now present. The Visser-Three-Impersonator one was still there, and three others, one of which looked suspiciously familiar. But then again, all Andalites looked similar. They let themselves in. 

Ax was gaping open-mouthed at the one who looked familiar, and drool dripped down his chin. Marco was glad he and Rachel sacrificed their time to teach Ax human expressions. He seemed to be overdoing it, but it's not bad for a beginner. 

May I speak to them alone, Diwwalt? Familiar one asked the Visser-Three-Impersonator.

As you wish, and they left Familiar with them, and exited.

Aximili! I'm so pleased to see that you're alive! _Yep, this is some sort of Yeerk trick, Marco thought. __When an Andalite sounds so delirious-happy you know something's wrong. Ax was still staring at Familiar. Then he started to demorph. _

_Glad to see for once Ax isn't knocked blind by the presence of an Andalite. Marco put his right pinky and thumb together – a signal to his comrades. To Marco's surprise, Ax walked up to Familiar and they touched tails. __I knew I was expecting too much of Ax to keep his senses._

Erek withdrew his hologram and a wolf, a grizzly bear and a tiger flashed into view. 

You can leave now, Erek. Thanks.

I am so bored. There is absolutely nothing here that I can see. The shielding is definitely better than the Blade Ship's 'cause I can't even see a ripple. Tobias announced from somewhere outside. 

Familiar looked at each of them, unfazed. I see four of you. Is the fifth one either dead or captured? 

"I didn't know aliens couldn't count," Marco muttered. He might as well continue to play 'innocent human' as it wouldn't help to be inconsistent in his lies. "See, one, two, three, four, and me. Jeez." 

Familiar tilted his head and studied Marco. I gave the morphing technology to five humans, and I only see four.

And Marco gaped at Elfangor. "You're _dead!"_

That response seem to be delayed. Elfangor chuckled. Ax blinked at Marco and shook his head human-style. I did not die. After I gave you the morphing ability, a Yeerk traitor started shooting Visser Three. He wanted me as host, and had his own loyal followers to help him. He was oblivious to the troubles Visser Three had gone through to catch me. Visser Three was forced to demorph. The Yeerk traitor had me bound into a private room and insisted on what he called 'socialising with the host'. He wanted to watch my fear and discomfort by talking to me while I was held still by Hork-Bajir before entering me. My wounds were crudely treated so I would not bleed to death. This delayed my infestation and allowed several Andalites to rescue me.

A/N: This story is moving so slowly. I have so much pointless junk that do nothing for the plot… *sigh* 

And to my reviewers (less reviewers each chapter, c'mon people, what's wrong with you!)

Muse: Doesn't it _tell you something about your work when people review, and probably read, less? _

Myst: *blinkblink* No.

Muse: ~___~;;

Phoenix – Yes, reeeeeeeeead, that's my good girl. You're _still_ not done shopping for furniture? Aii… use this ficcy as antidote. 

Jinako-chan – The… _potential_ sibling is not relevant... unless I think up of something to make it relevant… Sleep too much and insanity will leave you, which means that when the penguins get you you won't even know! 

Nova Mist – Your general message is to unite Elfangor, Loren and Tobias. *points and laughs at you*  *has been sadistically laughing at you since your review in Ch3*  ^.^   
j/k J      Still fweeends??  Gah… I warned you the explanation for Elfie's lame. 

By the way, I have only very vague ideas as to where the story is going. Any suggestion is welcome. Erm… the chapters might be updated slower from now on because I have lots of exams and assignments next term. *nods*


	5. Confrontations

**::walks into cheering crowd:: (because I'm delusional, you understand.)**

**Hello everyone! Yes, I know you've all been waiting for me. I warned you about my lateness in the last chapter. This chapter is the longest so far, so that should hopefully compensate.  **

"Oh," Marco said in response to Elfangor's explanation. 

Yes.

"Hey, how did you find us?"

We were tracking for Andalite DNA, and we found Aximili's. We needed him to respond to us to trace his exact location. I believe he didn't respond directly, but we could pick up some of his thought speech. If you don't mind telling me, where is he or she?

"Who?"

The remaining human morpher.

"He's elsewhere."

Ah, I see. Elfangor looked suspiciously at Marco. 

Elfangor, the other morpher is outside keeping a watch. Marco just didn't know how to say this specifically. I'm Jake, the unofficial leader of the human resistance. We are grateful that the Andalites have finally come. We call ourselves the Animorphs, Jake introduced. You know, animal morphers… And poof, the sophisticated feel of leadership deflated. 

Animorphs. Well, you all need to come aboard the Dome Ship so the commander can talk to you and a report of the situation on Earth can be sent to the Homeworld. The Animorph who is outside needs to come as well.

Oh. Okay… do we demorph?

Yes please, Elfangor shuffled. Do you… happen to know if my hirac delest reached the Homeworld?

"Your what?"

No, Elfangor. We have encountered a number of Andalites since I joined the Animorphs, and they did not know of any morph capable humans.

Are those Andalites of high rank?

Ax knew Elfangor hoped that the Andalites the Animorphs encountered didn't know simply because the government had kept it from the public.

Relatively so. There was an apex intelligence officer…

Oh… well, I have to tell them then. Please let me do all the talking, then, with rare cynicism, he added Should be interesting, eh?

* * * 

Marco, Jake, Rachel, Cassie and Tobias were all in human form, and they expected the Andalite officers to stare at Elfangor in a shocked and furious manner, before screaming him into shame about betraying the Andalites, repeating Seerow's mistake, and so forth. 

They didn't. 

Diwwalt sighed heavily and closed his main eyes. Aselton threw down the device he was holding and stared up at the artificial sky. Fynalin remained unmoving and expressionless. 

Elfangor stood neutrally, his stalk eyes scanning each of them. Finally he said Well, I thought you had the right to know. What's done is done, I hope they'll be of some help. I told you three first because you are of the highest rank, and because I thought you'd understand. Eventually I want to everyone to – 

Look, we all know what has to be done, Diwwalt cut in. So let's drop the matter. Jake, please tell us about your experiences with the Yeerks.

Diwwalt, our people needs to know – 

And that would do a lot of good, wouldn't it? Clear your conscience elsewhere. Jake, proceed. Elfangor was startled and stung by Diwwalt's reaction. 

"Um…" Jake cleared his throat and started again. "Our group of six may be small, but we've done a lot of damage to the Yeerks, hoping that the militarily experienced and technologically advanced Andalites will come to our aid soon. I see that you have finally come, and I want to thank you. Over the past two years we Animorphs have been through thick and thin together, our lives have been changed dramatically. And given the choice, I would have said, No, I don't want to get involved in this war. But I am, and I am glad that someone is fighting for Earth, whether it be us or someone else. So I thank Elfangor for giving humans a chance, I thank you, Elfangor, for giving us hope." Elfangor smiled sheepishly. "I believe your group and the human resistance can work cooperatively together and reach our common goal." Jake stuck out his hand to Diwwalt.

Jake's hand was ignored, and he let it fall to his side. Diwwalt paced across the quarters. Pace, pace, pace, pace, turn. Pace, pace, pace, pace, turn. He felt mixed emotions. Betrayed, confused, angry, lost. 

Yes, we have no choice but to cooperate with you.

"No, you don't. We started off as five clueless human kids plus an alien kid, now we're reluctant soldiers. But we're determined to save Earth, and you Andalites have always led us to believe that you'd be there to help us."

Yes, yes. I haven't denied that now, have I? Diwwalt sounded impatient. Now you said cooperate. So _tell me about your experiences so I can make an estimate as to what to expect from you. Diwwalt's attitude seemed to have gone from bad to intolerable. And still, he paced restlessly across the quarters._

"You can expect the best effort from me and my team, you will trust what we have to contribute, especially when it comes to information. And we will now _discuss civilly. So, let's first talk about __you have in mind."_

Aristh Aximili, has Jake always been this… _insolent?_

Prince Jake has done well for the human race.

Elfangor looked at Ax in surprise at the title Ax had given Jake. Fynalin and Aselton's seemed indifferent. Diwwalt's tail twitched and he glared at Ax.

_Prince Jake? Have these people brainwashed you? What's __wrong with you! Are you in a sexual relationship with Jake as well? Is calling him __Prince in exchange for a sexual favour, what with you being lonely and senseless and him needing some self assurance. What is your __problem! What is all of your __problems! I… I don't know what to say. You… get out! GET OUT! Diwwalt turned and stormed out himself.  _

Aselton seemed embarrassed by Diwwalt's outburst. Fynalin remained expressionless. The Animorphs looked at each other. 

"Well," Cassie said. "Didn't think Andalites would sink to sexual insults. No offense to anyone." 

"Actually – " Marco wanted to clear the matter for the odd Andalite officer. And Ax was in enough trouble without all this confusion. "I think I accidentally made him think that Ax and I were having an affair."

"And the situation gets better and better," muttered Tobias. 

"We-ell. Oookay, let me consider the way to bring myself the least embarrassment. You see, when Diwwalt visited Ax and I at the scoop I thought he was – well he surprised me. Ax was… not wearing anything. Don't look at me like that, I _did not influence him to do so, yes surprising. He was hot, that was all. So… I wanted to call you guys before I did anything, so to do that I had to make an excuse to get away from Diwwalt, see, perfectly logical so far. I… I said that we were making love…" Marco giggled nervously. _

Jake scowled at Marco severely. He was not amused. Ax stared at Marco in utter shock, for he had had only just realised the meaning of Marco's excuse to Diwwalt.

"Aw Big Jake, you gotta understand. The Andalite won't listen to any other excuses – he won't let us go! He doesn't think the natural, biological need to pee is urgent enough. He said what he needed to talk to us about was way more damn _urgent."_

 "And I suppose your final excuse _was urgent enough?"_

"Well, I slammed the opening of the scoop."

"Why didn't you do that earlier?"

"Uhh…" Marco couldn't believe the idea had never occurred to him. 

Jake believed Marco was trying to humour the Andalite. He threw up his arms in exasperation. Aselton and Fynalin, forgotten by the Animorphs, turned and left the under-educated, under-trained creatures. Cassie frowned at the ground, Rachel was shaking her head in disgust at Marco. 

Elfangor morphed human as he walked over to Tobias. "I have not yet said hi to you, Tobias." As if on cue, the Animorphs walked away at once and left them alone. Elfangor didn't care to wonder why.

Elfangor looked at Tobias closely for the first time and saw the shadow of Loren. The family resemblance was painful to see. The slightest traits that can only be found by those who knew what to look for – the tilt of the chin, the way the lips curved into a small smile, the direction his eyes looked when he was nervous… Elfangor put his arms around Tobias gently, drew him close, and kissed his forehead. 

The action surprised Elfangor, and he was relieved to find that Tobias wasn't startled. "Tobias… I have something to confess to you too. You see, I spent some years on Earth as a human – "

"I know," Tobias said softly. 

A surge of joy raced through Elfangor, and he resisted to urge to throw his arms around his son. "Do you! How's Loren… your mother?"

"Well… she's fine," Tobias replied nervously. 

Elfangor smiled. "And your father?" _Hope he's a good man. What did you do together? Did that hair colour come from him? Did he prefer the television or the newspaper? Does he shake his head and criticize politicians? Did he read bed time stories to you? Did he…_

"Actually…"

"Mmm?"

"I… I need to morph to hawk. I mean demorph. I'm a morph capable nothlit hawk now."

"Oh." The single syllable bounced hollowly into the space between them and diffused into the thin air. A weight of sadness fell upon him. In his disappointment he had failed to notice the oddity of a morph capable nothlit. How many tiresome nights after a battle had he returned to his scoop with only his persistent thoughts for company, and eventually fell asleep only with the image of a carefree human boy hanging onto his semi-consciousness? 

A bird.

He'd missed out on seeing him learn audible speech. He'd missed out on seeing him learn to walk to two shaky legs. Diaper buying, toilet training, bathing, school fees, parent meetings, annoying principals who knew what's best for everyone's kids, walks to the park, friend problems, high school, puberty, girl problems…

_No need to freak out, he told himself, __you can both morph human and do things together, it doesn't make a difference. It's not as if you plan to settle down on Earth and claim __Tobias__ as your child. Tobias is still Tobias, the only difference is physical. _

A bird. 

Yes, he admit it now, he had been excited to see the son he never met, and maybe see Loren. Now he can't even pretend to temporarily be the human father who conceived this human child. How can he visualize the two of them in a normal father-son relationship if he could only see Tobias as a bird? He wanted time to _go back. He hadn't even __known this human child, and now he's a bird. Didn't he deserve to find out what shoe size Tobias wore, whether he brushed his teeth once or twice a day? _

He had vaguely imagined them conversing, catching up, laughing together for so _long. It wasn't right to come this close and have it yanked out of reach. Coming to Earth was supposed to materialize that fantasy._

Not that Elfangor was any more human than a bird nothlit. He sighed and demorphed. Tobias must have finished demorphing and left. Elfangor's first impulse was to run and find him. He reminded himself that he was here on a mission, not to get caught up in the past. He would have to leave Tobias in a few months at the most anyway. 

So he straightened his shoulders and went to find out what the other Andalites were up to. 

**And that's all for now. I just can't write 'Everything's-Perfect-Sap'. I can't. I can't. Don't spear me to death. Please.**

**A lot of people seem to want Elfangor/Loren romance. C'mon, do you really want your favourite Andalite to not get over someone for so long, even though he believed that ****Loren**** won't remember him, even though he committed himself to his duty billions of light years away? But, hmmm… you can always keep begging.**

**For those of you who said Elfangor's explanation was not lame, thank you so much! I wuv ya!  I'll let you in on a secret: there was a point in time when I had _no idea how to explain Elfangor and got very desperate… I thought of Visser Three's happiness after he ate Elfangor, you see, and … um… _**

**Muse: You're pathetic. **

**…um, he started eating Hork-Bajir and Taxxon controllers at random. And he… vomited, and out came Elfangor, whose strong will helped him morph _despite him stating __perfectly clearly that he was too weak to morph. _**

**Muse: *covers eyes* You can tell I was absent during that level of creativity.**

**Another explanation was that some Andalite just _happened to be near Elfangor and just __happened to be able to save him. _**

**A phenomenon I discovered: the chapters so far have alternated between angst and comedy. Scary… since I didn't intend it to be that way, there's a conspiracy! *looks about in a paranoid manner* I'll break that pattern next chapter.**

**To my faithful reviewers…**

Angel of Music – I don't have the AC with me. Heh… well I'm more likely to write dark depressing stuff than sap. But maybe she'll be there some time.

Nova Mist - *points up concerning the Loren issue* But don't run away from my fic! Elfangor wasn't likely to be worried because he thought she was fine with another husband. I say 'was' because after this encounter with Tobias, who knows?

Andre – I love my Andalites too much. Bu-ut most of the Andalites are going to be minor characters. 

Phoenix-sol – I'll try to put more action in. And how _could you let anime interfere with your mainstream work?! *glare* _

Jinako-chan – Thank you for your review! *hands you BestReview Award* I'd like to inform you that you _do have a sick obsession with M/A, but don't worry, it's a good thing. Poor Elayura, you keep calling her Pre-teen, it's all my fault. :-P As for the plot, I had ideas, but I need to work on compressing them into the chapters and actually have them making sense. And somehow keep this fic off the Comedy genre if it's irrelevant. But it's so __tempting to torture Marco and the Andalites! _

**Uhh this Author's Note is so long. *hangs head***

**REVIEW!! Now! Go to that little square button and click it. Pound a few random keys into the box that comes up, and click the long button that says submit. What do you think of the story itself? You're invited to comment on anything! And negative reviews are _welcometoo, alright?_**


	6. Deluding Myself

**A/N: I took so long to update this because 1)school and 2)Writer's Block. This chapter is basically just the thoughts of an angsty Diwwalt. I understand that Diwwalt is an original character and that a lot of you probably don't want to hear too much about him, so I tried to include something _other than Diwwalt angst in this chapter. But I couldn't think up of anything, so I just left it. So basically, I finished writing this bit four days ago, and spent the next four days trying to write something else to include in the chapter, and finally decided to give up on that._**

**Diwwalt**** uses some human terms in this thoughts… just pretend I've got the Andalite equivalent there.**

* * *

Diwwalt ran into the meadow. A rational part of him told him that he'd just made a fool of himself. Perhaps he should turn around, go back, and make an excuse about his behaviour? He ignored that rational part of him and ran on, not caring about what the others thought of him. It's not as if he needed them, anyway. It's not as if what he was depended on what they thought. 

Your decision is a mistake, son. It's the biggest mistake you'll ever make. Going into the military means signing your own death certificate… his parents had told him.

He was the eldest of four children, and the only male one. From a young age he'd wanted to be in the military. He absorbed the information published by the media and found himself all the trivial details of the military system. 

It didn't matter that his family was below middle-class. It didn't matter that his father was unemployed, not because he was incompetent, but because he didn't _want to work, or that the only thing unique about his mother was the fact that she spent her spare time making decorations that didn't really do any good. He wanted to fight alongside Andalite warriors. He wanted to represent the good that Andalites believed in, that Andalites __were. He knew perfectly well that being a warrior isn't all glorious, but he wanted to __be. To truly serve his people, not as a regular good tax-paying citizen, but as a warrior. To stand tall on a battlefield and be recognised an __Andalite. To stand by what was good and defend what was evil, and to be recognised for doing so. There need not be his name on any medals or honor rolls. There was no higher praise than the contentment of the knowledge that he did so._

One day, after reading between the lines of yet another political speech on the Net, young Diwwalt had run to his parents in distress. He had screamed the atrocity about the disgraced Prince Alloran the speech, when combined and examined with other information, seemed to imply. For a short while his trust in his people had shattered, and he stood paralysed and suspended, confused about where he belonged. 

His parents did not believe the government could conceal something so big. And although they never had much respect for the military, they believed that it was nothing evil. They weren't like the Yeerks, after all. Nevertheless, they took advantage of this occasion to discourage Diwwalt from the military. Warriors are the first step to Allorans, they said. The government didn't care about the civilians, the war with the Yeerks was purely political. Seerow was just a sentimental fool, but Alloran, Alloran was different. Seerow was stupid – he didn't know what he was doing. _Alloran, on the other hand, did. He knew perfectly well what he was doing but did it anyway. And why? Because the military is where nice normal living people go to turn into twisted, cold, bitter things that do nothing but complain about their bad experiences, and look down on those who have suffered less. It was really no better than the Yeerks at all. _

They loved him as he was, did he understand? He's looking to just kill himself, didn't he understand? He'd be a fool if he chose that path, why didn't he get it son? 

But by then he'd accepted the information. By then he had discarded Alloran as a loser. In any society, losers existed, he knew that. And who could blame the government for hiding it? The government wasn't narrow-minded and selfish at all, like his mother said. The government's officers had gone against what each of them believed in – the truth – to protect the people. Young Diwwalt had admired them this moment more than ever.

He went to a regular academy, and there was no chance to be in the military unless he attended military academy. He tried to convince his parents time and time again to transfer him. They flatly refused, and for months the home atmosphere just got more and more tense. 

So he ran away. The boy who loved his parents and sisters, completed his household chores and got relatively good grades at academy ran away. His parents probably never found out his motives, although they suspected that he ran away to get closer to the military one way or another. The police gave him up for an ungrateful rebel youth who didn't appreciate the wise parental authority and the comforts of the Andalite scoop in search for adventure and mischief. 

The neighbours were shocked and disgusted. They never expected this from the usually obedient little boy who hardly ever questioned his parents' orders. The little boy who was mature for his age, tolerant and adorable. Who knew these specimen resided in their neighbourhood? 

He was so stupid, Diwwalt thought now as he ran on blindly. His parents were right about the military. They didn't know much about the military, and they were able to make correct judgments. He went into so much _trouble to get to where he was now, and what was the point? He'd been deluding himself for most of his life. He was blind and his life was a lie._

Military academy hadn't been easy. Fellow students disrespected him for his difference and lack of knowledge in some areas. He could not explain who his parents were and were mistaken for being embarrassed of them. He spent most of his after-school hours alone trying to catch up and when he wasn't alone he was being picked on. The only person who stood out during those dreariest days was aristh Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul. Elfangor was different from the others, but not _different like Diwwalt was. Elfangor was everything Diwwalt wasn't and wanted to be, and the only similarity was their exam marks. _

And up till his grand first mission, aristh Elfangor never knew what he represented for aristh Diwwalt. Elfangor was not seen for many years, but his example as a student remained in Diwwalt's mind for all of his school years.

And look what he'd done. Just look at it. Whatever he did during his 'disastrous years', as Elfangor had called it, he had eventually turned to five random human children and given them the morphing technology. Elfangor had said they wouldn't believe what had happened during those 'disastrous years'. Diwwalt doubted it. Why wouldn't he believe, eh? Did Elfangor really think giving up the proud Andalite technological symbol was a regular everyday occurrence? He'd believe it, oh yes. In fact, he was so interested in what went on in those years that he'd give up his fucking phoney job, and listen, and maybe laugh at him before he killed himself. Why not? 

In fact, he could run back right now and demand Elfangor to explain it. Who knows, maybe he was a Yeerk at heart and turned Alloran in to the Yeerks! God, his thoughts were amusing. He never knew he was that imaginative… 

Did dirt run in genes? That little Aximili had called the human Jake… Wouldn't it be funny though, if brown soil or grey dust were to run in the blue Andalite blood? It might even be mistaken for the Yeerk pool liquid. 

And why bother with the Cleansing Ritual? It was all a lie anyway. He didn't mind amusing himself.

That little brat was even gay. Not that he was homophobic, but that little brother of his was _gay. Now, he didn't have a problem with those who happened to prefer the same sex, but Aximili… it was wrong. It was disgusting, twisted, perverted, __wrong. That little weak piece of dirt… What right did he have to be __gay when Diwwalt had been locked up as prisoners for four months with one other male until the Andalite Fleet had come to rescue them?  _

What was wrong with him, anyway? Diwwalt had clearly ordered the little aristh to response to the Dome Ship's signals regardless of circumstances, and he hadn't. Instead, he'd stuttered incoherent syllables that took extra resources to track. Didn't he know how to follow orders? Maybe being the brother of Prince Elfangor didn't require the need to follow orders. 

And maybe just being related to that Elfangor explained everything. His parents weren't completely right: Seerow can be repeated. Heck, Seerow and Alloran can even be combined. _He had given five __humans the morphing technology, knowing perfectly well that humans were a Class Five species. This was out of kindness and pity as well, wasn't it? And he __knew Seerow's mistake, but decided to ignore it. _

And that Jake. God, was _everything wrong with these people? Jake raved on about war and subtle strategies as if he knew something about it, as if text books teaching you the __theory of atoms really damn prepared you to decode the BioFilter. As if learning about the probability of picking out a ball of a certain colour out of a sack of differently coloured balls __really fucking helped you predict what the Blade Ship's main dracon beams are going to do the next nanosecond. _

And that Cassie! She had looked nervously from Elfangor to Jake to Diwwalt the whole time. What, exactly, was her _problem? Did she honestly pass Yeerk security glancing fearfully at the human controllers? What strategy did she have – to __fidget?  _

Rachel didn't like him, that was fine. But Diwwalt would really like to sit her down and tell her that swearing and glaring at Yeerks aren't going to miraculously make them self destruct. Naive human. 

Marco and Tobias had spent the whole time looking at each other and muttering under their breaths. Incompetence. Tobias had also glanced at Elfangor a number of times, probably wasn't used to seeing aliens. 

But why does Diwwalt even _bother to think about them, anyway! He wasn't that old, he could still change his future. People always said he had an artistic talent… Why __bother with these… these… __them? He wasn't reliant on them. He had no business with them. If they knew what he thought of them they wouldn't want him anymore, and he doesn't want them. It's for everyone's best interests if he just left. _

He couldn't possibly go back, his parents would probably say We told you. He didn't even know where they were anyway. He didn't even know if they were alive. He couldn't go back to his neighbours – they wouldn't accept him.

Oh this is just great. Nothing to do, nowhere to go, no one to turn to. 

Whatever he decides to do, it would have to come later, after this mission. No matter how he felt, he is with them for this mission, and he'll do it well. It was an obligation. He wasn't a man who sinks to becoming unprofessional in his job because of personal reasons. He would do whole-heartedly whatever he had to do for this last mission, and put every bit of dedication into it. 

And only after that is he going to allow himself to think about where to go for his future. So he composed himself just as Elfangor… Prince Elfangor approached him from behind, somehow escaping the view of Diwwalt's stalk eyes.

He jumped. Prince Elfangor! 

Diwwalt. Everyone's concerned about where you went. You better go back to the Ship now.

I apologise for my earlier behaviour! I was just… overwhelmed. My common sense just left me and – 

Don't worry about it, Elfangor smiled and Diwwalt just felt sad. 

Come to the Ship and we'll tell you what we've come up with so far.

* * *

**A/N: I've lost the excitement for this fic… if you want the fic to continue, please say so in the review or email me. **

Now to my faithful reviewers…

JG - *glare* Bribery=Bad. Of _course being bribed to review is too awful a thing to even think of! =P_

Phoenix_sol- *eyes glaze over* My very own crrrrowwwd… The Andalites could put two and two together because I assumed the Andalites had _some basic knowledge about humans. I dunno… guess I assumed they were faster learners than our Ax. Also, it's obvious that humans usually wear clothes, otherwise their "parts" are exposed, unlike Andalites… Is this chappie enough Diwwalt for you? What 'A' word? *dying of curiosity* Oh and I wouldn't mind your review being longer than my chapter at all, I wouldn't mind at all. *rolls up sleeves* C'mon man, yer wanna start? Let's see yer try to beat my length, eh? Yer ain't beat'n no one 'till I see yer, miss! _

Angel of Music – Aww, my writing is in character! ;) Glad you like! I don't know if I can have another Elayura appearance, she's all the way on the Andalite Homeworld, after all. 

Jinako-chan – About Diwwalt being homophobic – I hope this chapter made it clearer for you. I think he's not strictly homophobic, maybe just a teeny bit uncomfortable with it. If I continue with this fic, you'll have the answers to your curiosity about Elfangor finding out about Tobias's life. Arrgh the frustration when reviews semi-guess what's coming next and I can't just spoilt it in an email reply! j/k

Nova Mist – About Tobias' leaving being strange…Tobias left because he didn't know what to say. He could tell that Elfangor was expecting a wonderful recount of his childhood. The request about Elfangor seeing Loren from a distance… you're _soo close to what I had in mind! _


	7. We came to free you

A/N: This is an update! *collective gasp* Sorry this took so long, sorry, sorry. *holds up hands* There were some complications in getting this chapter done, involving split parents and different computers and the storing and transfer of this document. Please. um. spare me torture? *nervous smile*.  
  
Many thanks to Angel of Music for prodding me along when I was lazy. Many thanks also to Phoenix_sol, who gave me a hard enough time about the aforementioned complications for me to be brave and retrieve the document.  
  
And finally, thank you all for the reviews, every single one means a lot. *hugs* ^.~  
  
  
  
"So let's run it through one more time: Two of us, and the number is not negotiable, go to the Yeerk Pool at precisely 5 p.m. to coincide with Visser Three's feeding time - "  
  
"Oh maaaaan, why are we doing this again? I don't know about you guys, but I don't have a death wish," Marco whined.  
  
Because we are fighting the Yeerks, and this is the most strategic plan we can come up with, Diwwalt couldn't resist saying.  
  
Strategic, right. Oh by the way, I was only joking.  
  
This isn't a humourous matter, human.  
  
"As I was saying, two of us go in, and the rest of us stay outside in the Dome Ship, which will be hovering above the complex, ready to attack if we are needed. The little gadget Diwwalt and Ax constructed should be able to pick up thought speech signals from within the complex. Whoever goes in will try to rescue Alloran, then when they come out we'll work out what to do next, using Alloran's knowledge of the Yeerks."  
  
"I still don't see why we can't just go in and cause some damage," Rachel complained. "I mean come on, we've got the almighty Andalite Dome Ship, and we don't go kick some Yeerk butt?"  
  
Our orders are to patrol Earth, not to massacre Yeerks, Diwwalt said curtly. Even though he, too, wondered why they couldn't just go in and cause some damage. And if they didn't want violence, why did they want to rescue Alloran, of all the things to do?  
  
And yes, he had a problem with that. He also had a problem with the Jake child putting let's run it through one more time in front of his explanation as if he was sacrificing his supreme breath for Diwwalt, the late-comer who lost his temper for no reason.  
  
"Alright. Are there any questions?" Jake asked, though his tone clearly indicated that he didn't want any.  
  
Yes, Diwwalt said despite his instincts telling him that the smartest thing to do right then was to just follow his 'orders'. I would like to know why we're rescuing Alloran when it spells unnecessary danger?  
  
Diwwalt noticed Elfangor begin to answer but Jake cut in first, loud and confident. "Information. Also, do you want your people to be constantly reminded of the one Andalite who failed to be free? Do you want to allow the Yeerks to keep the one Andalite they've captured?" In truth, Jake did not have an answer to Diwwalt's question. But he had agreed to Elfangor's somewhat insistent request, and that was that.  
  
No, Diwwalt replied. He didn't believe that that was Jake's motives. There was something the group wasn't telling him and he didn't like it.  
  
And he definitely didn't like rescuing Alloran. It was just his luck to get stuck with such a mission when he had personal problems to worry about.  
  
"Okay, who's going to go in?"  
  
I will, aristh Aximili volunteered quickly. I failed to kill him.  
  
This should be interesting. I will go as well, Diwwalt said.  
  
I'll go, Prince Elfangor. Diwwalt wondered why Elfangor wanted to place himself in unnecessary danger in an unknown Yeerk complex, instead of letting the humans sacrifice themselves in an area that they knew better than the Andalites.  
  
"Two, nonnegotiable. Alright, let's see," Jake frowned and considered. "Ax has to go, and Elfangor can go so that Ax can have his first proper mission with his brother." He glanced at Aximili and Aximili smiled at him gratefully. Diwwalt noticed that Jake didn't address Elfangor by his rank. That arrogant little human.  
  
No! I am the commander of the Andalites present, therefore I must go. He wasn't exactly the commander of Aximili, and if you took it a certain way it was rather insulting. The stupid aristh didn't even seem to get it. He must go, he must, because he had a problem with Alloran being free. He pitied the unfortunate existence, but he had no obligation, and certainly no wish, to free Alloran. As if that criminal hasn't caused enough problems already. No one knew what he did though, Diwwalt thought, so he'd better be careful with what he said.  
  
"Did you hear me say two?"  
  
I volunteered before Prince Elfangor, Diwwalt replied, humiliated by the lameness he had been forced to resort to. And I also believe that Andalite warriors would be more suitable to the task than an aristh.  
  
Jake sighed, exasperated. It was much easier before the Andalites came merrily along. "This aristh does fine. And I'll be blunt - no, I do not trust you with no Animorph to watch over you."  
  
I'll follow your orders, Jake. It had come to this.  
  
"Vote. Raise your hand if you want Ax in." All the Animorphs, Elfangor and Aximili raised their hands.  
  
"Raise your hand if you want Elfangor in." The same people.  
  
Aristh Aximili, Diwwalt growled to Ax in private thought-speech. I order you to say you don't wish to go anymore. If you disobey, I will erase you from census, and you will never be permitted to the Homeworld again. Even if you do physically return to the Homeworld, you will not be recognised by the Central Census Count, and therefore, cannot hold membership as an Andalite. He was bluffing, he doubted the Andalite High Command would ever let a semi-staff like Diwwalt make a decision such as this one, especially when it concerned the brother of Prince Elfangor.  
  
"Alright then, it's settled. Ax and Elfangor will - "  
  
... Prince Jake? I don't wish to go anymore. the aristh obviously didn't give a crap about what Diwwalt thought of his title for the human. Diwwalt scowled.  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
Yes, Prince Jake.  
  
"Okay, then Elfangor and Diwwalt will go." Jake didn't ask any questions, but threw Diwwalt a look of suspicion.  
  
* * *  
  
Diwwalt walked awkwardly down the stairs. Jake had insisted that they enter as human controllers. Diwwalt supposed that that was what they had to do. On top of feeling insulted, he felt uneasy in this body. Basically, it was half blind and if something attacked him he had nothing to defend himself. In fact, it was a wonder that the Animorphs are still alive.  
  
Now they could hear the screams from below and the stench of death and torture. Typical of Yeerks, the Andalites thought.  
  
They have arrived at the bottom of the stairs and Diwwalt couldn't help but groan at the scene. Dozens of Taxxons were feeding on live controllers. They bit and tore at the flesh that was still writhing, whimpering and crying. Blood of various species - blue, green, red, orange - were being spilled and squirted carelessly. It appeared that the Visser wasn't happy.  
  
I cannot tolerate this level of incompetence! If any Yeerk, any Yeerk at all, dares to carry out my orders incorrectly they will meet their fate! Do I make myself clear!? Their host bodies will be fed to Taxxons just as this scene that you are witnessing. If you are worthless you will be tortured by Kandrona starvation for weeks until you die. If I believe you have some use, you will be tortured by Kandrona starvation for as long as your body can take, then abandoned until I have use for you. Do I make myself clear! To make his point, the Visser whipped his tail about, executing several unfortunate controllers who were foolish enough to be near him.  
  
Diwwalt would kill Yeerks without hesitation, but the sight of such brutality sickened him. He had known about this, but nothing anyone told him could ever have prepared him for being here in person. He took a deep breath and hoped he did not appear as shaky as he felt. Elfangor stepped forward.  
  
"Hey, how's your new host?" Elfangor said to him almost casually, Diwwalt scowled. How could he be so relaxed when corpses are being thrown about and the tormented screams of innocent hosts lashed the air?  
  
"Fine." Efangor nodded, attempting to pass time until the group outside was ready and Jake spoke to them.  
  
Jake and them, do you think they know what they're doing? I say we go ahead without them.  
  
Elfangor smiled, Since the whole group already agreed on this, let's just stick to the plan. It's only been six minutes and fourteen seconds.  
  
Diwwalt wanted to get this over with. He believed that all Jake could do was jeopardize the plan. Excess adrenaline was pumping through his veins and he wanted to get this over with.  
  
Hey, we're ready. You guys just keep an eye on him, get Alloran out, keep conversation to the minimum. Elfangor, you do the talking. Diwwalt, it's best if you just help drag Alloran out. And both of you, pay attention to what Alloran says, if he says anything, because anything could be important.  
  
Elfangor looked to Diwwalt to reply. So he was still recognized as the commander and boss for this mission, he felt involuntarily flattered. Instead of commenting of Jake's rude orders, he found himself say Yes, Jake. Are. is. is it usually this sick here, Visser Three killing fellow Yeerks for no reason and Taxxon controllers chewing on comrades not yet dead?  
  
Marco laughed not uncruelly, and that was the Animorphs' reply and comment to Diwwalt's question.  
  
Visser Three had disappeared from the scene, most likely to his private portable pool. Elfangor lead the way and strolled to the feeding queue. They had plenty of people in front of them to give them enough time.  
  
Alloran will most likely be near the portable pool, correct? Elfangor suggested.  
  
I suppose.  
  
.you okay?  
  
Yes, Diwwalt snapped. I just don't understand the necessity in doing this task. I would gladly sacrifice my life for more worthwhile causes. To his surprise, Elfangor shrugged mutely and looked away, hurt.  
  
Diwwalt pondered how he was going to bring up the problem of getting to Alloran, when he saw four Hork-Bajir carry Alloran into the main area of the complex. One Hork-Bajir on each side of Alloran, one holding his tail, and one walking behind them. Visser Three certainly didn't take any risks with the empire's most superior host. Alloran didn't seem to be resisting.  
  
"The Great Visser Three has ordered his host to be witness to the activities on this complex while the Great One himself is not present. All Yeerks are to be warned that any and all misconducts will not slip past the Great One's knowledge and will be severely, nevertheless appropriately, punished." The Hork-Bajir announced in clear Galard. Diwwalt and Elfangor looked at each other, amazed by the Hork-Bajir's ability to deliver his message clearly and fluently. But then again, the Visser would hardly accept anything other than the most capable for his own servants.  
  
Alloran-Semitur-Corass, Diwwalt spoke privately and evenly, although the name brought connotations of massacre, bloodshed, crime, and that day in his childhood.  
  
Alloran did not respond in any way.  
  
Alloran, we are sent by the Andalite High Command, and our mission is to free you. Cooperate with us to escape this place.  
  
What are you doing here? Alloran yelped in private thought-speech.  
  
Diwwalt bit back his sarcastic response and replied patiently To free you.  
  
Don't you know surveillance equipment are placed everywhere? Don't you know alarms undetectable to the common body are being raised everywhere, and that Yeerks here are too afraid to report to Esplin? You better just go. If you get far enough away by the time Esplin returns to me you won't be easily found and captured. Diwwalt was insulted. Insulted by Alloran's unwillingness to cooperate. Insulted by Alloran's stupidity. Insulted by Alloran' tone when he, a representative of the Andalite high Command, was offering to help him. Insulted that Alloran had called the filthy Yeerk by its name. Insulted that no, he did not know that alarms were being raised.  
  
Ignorant fool, we're trying to help you. It certainly cannot be my responsibility to relieve you of this much deserved place you've earned yourself in Yeerk custody. However, I willingly do so for the freedom of the galaxy and for Andalite pride. He hadn't meant for this to come out so harsh, but it did, and he felt Elfangor cringe.  
  
Alloran, on the other hand, was unaffected. This was ridiculous! Instead of fighting off Yeerks and helping Alloran escape, this warrior was stuck trying to reason with Alloran to cooperate so that he could help him. Damn, it was times like this when it was tempting to just turn his back and leave, Alloran can endure Yeerk treatment as far as Diwwalt was concerned. But he was a responsible warrior, and however undeserving his current leader was, he followed his orders.  
  
Do you want to be free or not!?  
  
Alloran, it's me, Elfangor. I'm alive -   
  
Shut up! Alloran cut in shrilly, now extending his private thought speech to include Elfangor. Don't tell me, don't tell me anything you don't want Esplin to know!  
  
If you came out with us, the Yeerk wouldn't know, would it? Diwwalt was really beginning to despise this particularly difficult Andalite. His patience was leaving him.  
  
Controllers rarely escape. Just go!  
  
This is a direct order. Just do -   
  
I don't care! Leave! You don't know what you're doing. Just go, go, go! I don't want you to save me, just get out of here! Aarrghhh are you stupid?!  
  
Diwwalt and Elfangor were second in line in the feeding queue.  
  
Run! Alloran was urging them. You won't have the chance once you reach first in line. Once they realize no Yeerk is coming out they'll be on to you.  
  
We've been caught, Jake's voice suddenly said grimly. Ax, Rachel and I might be able to hold them off for a few more minutes. You guys better come out quickly. They're really suspicious. Marco, Tobias and Cassie need to morph.  
  
Elfangor felt the edge of panic. He needed to get Alloran out of there, he can't leave him here.  
  
Alloran, please just come with us! Elfangor urged privately to Alloran. I feel responsible for you. I'm not leaving until you come with us. he had no idea how that was to work, he had no idea how much of what he said he meant.  
  
  
  
A/N: Cliffhanger! Hahaha, don't you just love those? I really need to work out an ending for this thing soon, then I can have a vague direction. I know some things I'd like to include, but not how to go about including them. ^_____^;;  
  
Next chapter there will be something that many of you have asked for in varying degrees of desperation. Hopefully I'll get it up within. *thinks* five days? A week?  
  
Phoenix_sol - Ellimist? Oh, he's a close friend of mine, didn't you know? Mislead Diwwalt is funny, so I don't know when I'll clear M/A up. I'm hoping to put the misunderstanding to some more use before I clear it up once and for all.  
  
flying - Heh heh, Elfangor will find out more about Tobias' childhood later (whenever that might be).  
  
Jinako-chan - Who know, maybe he won't ditch the military (Ooh the suspense!). As for Diwwalt's angst, well. somehow that's how I see the average stereotypical Andalite warrior who is relatively high in rank as far as warriors go. *is so hopeless at explaining*  
  
Nova Mist - *is trying to write faster* I will do better than have Loren be seen from afar *wink* And to answer you question, no I do not know how long this fic will be, and I have no plan at all *sweatdrop*.  
  
All suggestions/comments/criticism/rant/praise/pointless review/flames/death threats are welcome!! 


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